Racist Chant Used During High School Volleyball Tournament

A group of white students from Archer City High School in Texas used a racially-charged chant to threaten students from the predominantly Hispanic Fort Hancock High School during a regional volleyball tournament Nov. 11. Fort Hancock, which is 97 percent Hispanic, lies south of El Paso along the Mexican border.

“Build that wall!” the Archer City students chanted, reports The Washington Post. The chant references president-elect Donald Trump’s campaign pledge to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border to stem the inflow of migrants.

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The students wore fake mustaches and trucker hats as they chanted, and held Trump/Pence campaign signs. Another student held a “Come and Take It” flag -- a reference to the Battle of Gonzales during the Texan Revolution.

Administrators “are aware of some offensive language used by our student section during the Ft. Hancock game” and said they were taking “appropriate action … to address this behavior,” a statement released on Facebook by the Archer City School District Nov. 13 stated. “In no way do we condone this type of language or behavior. ... We apologize to the students and community of Ft. Hancock. The administration is making every effort to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”

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“In my opinion it is stemming from the presidential election,” C.D. Knoblock, the Archer City School Superintendent, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “If we hadn’t had that election last week, this wouldn’t have happened. Our students are not racists. It’s as simple as that.”

“I guess what bothered me most was no adults, no officials did anything about it while the match was going on,” said Jose Franco, superintendent for the Fort Hancock school district. “We come from a very competitive district where’s there’s plenty of trash talk and that’s just part of the game, having fun with it, but this is the first time it has ever crossed the line. ... Little did they know that Hudspeth County where we live went for Trump.”